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District 9 Big League baseball team headed to World Series

District 9 #7 Travis Rosinski makes the force out at 2nd base and throws to first for the double play during the final game of the Big League Central Region tournament against Illinois Dist. 15 Thursday July 18, 2013. (Jon M. Brouwer|MLIVE.COM)

WYOMING – It is a good thing George Rosinski didn't book
any place to go for vacation this summer.

His Michigan District 9 Big League baseball team on Thursday, July 18,
took care of taking Rosinski out of town as it celebrated a Central Region championship that sends the squad to the Big League Baseball World Series, which begins July 24 in Easley,
South Carolina.

District 9 took an early lead and hung on to defeat
Illinois District 15, 3-1, at Pinery Park to clinch the Central title, it's first since advancing to the series two
years ago.

"That's why I don't take any vacations," Rosinski said. "It's
going to be good to go. The host team from South Carolina will probably have
seven or eight Division I-bound players on it. Wherever the deck falls, it does.
We'll represent the state and the region well."

"I think I go into tournaments knowing it's not okay to
finish second, so I try to stack the deck to where we're going to be strong at
the end," Rosinski said. "The performance we had today by Brad (Buurstra) was
great. Winning Wednesday night over Illinois was big. Illinois is a good team,
but I thought player for player we were better and that's why you play this
game. I was pretty confident in the kids."

For Buurstra (Union), it is his second straight summer vacation.
Buurstra, Dom Cintorino (Kenowa Hills) and Devin Husted (Union) went to the
Senior League World Series in Bangor, Maine, last year.

"It's going to be a lot of fun to go," Buurstra said. "We're
going to get a chance to play some really good teams. This was a really good
team we played today. It hasn't sunk in yet that we're going to South Carolina.

"We just took each win one at a time. We know what we're
capable of doing and we had really good pitching down the stretch. Winning last
night gave us a lot of momentum for this game."

Buurstra struck out seven batters in six innings to earn
one of the all-tournament berths for pitchers. Others from District 9 named to the team were
Husted, Corey Murphy (West Catholic/Davenport), Jake Ellis (Forest Hills
Eastern), Derek Lewis (West Catholic/GRCC) and Cody Ritsema (Kenowa Hills).

District 9 scored two runs in the fourth as Ritsema hit a single that scored Buurstra and Ellis. In the sixth, Buurstra singled
and came home on an RBI single by Lewis.

In other youth league tournament action, a pair of Grandville-area programs also won area
championships and moved on to state play later in the month.

* The girls 9-10 softball program scored an 11-0 shutout over Georgetown
Thursday at Pinery Park and moved on to the state round, which begins July 26
in Escanaba.

The game was shortened to four innings via the 10-run
mercy rule.

"These girls have played softball pretty much for five
years," Grandville manager Heidi Hardin said. "Since t-ball I've had a chance
to coach the majority of these girls, but there are a few I have not coached.
The entire team is wonderful.

"The nice thing is this is a repeat for four of the girls
on our team, because they have now won two area championships."

Courtney Hardin, Jackie Sundstrom, Maddie Ungrey and
Kyleigh Moll were on the 9-10 team that won an area championship for
Grandville.

Grandville scored six runs in the second inning and added
two in the third and three in the fourth. Slager held Georgetown's bats at bay
with seven strikeouts.

* The junior 13-14 squad also won an area title with an
18-4 victory over North Ottawa Youth Softball Association (NOYSA), based out of
Grand Haven and Spring Lake, on Thursday at Pinery Park. The game was shortened to five innings via the
mercy rule.

"I love this," Grandville manager Kyle Kribbet said. "A
couple of these girls won titles back at the 9-10 level but the majority of
these girls have never won before. We're really excited about this. I've been
coaching softball for 10 years and baseball for two years, and we've been
second countless times."

Grandville represents District 9 at the state tournament
in Clare, which begins on July 25.

"We've got eight teams in the tournament and I've got a
solid crew to work with," Kribbet said. "We've got outstanding pitching from
top to bottom. I think our odds are pretty good."

For Kaitlyn Orme, it is especially grateful to be in the
state tournament.

Last year, while preparing for area tournament play, Orme
took a ball off her left jaw and missed the entire tournament.

"I had to sit out games and eat blended food," Orme said.
"I was on the mound and my coach was doing drills to the outfield. I was
watching a ball come in and my coach hit a ball off my left jaw. I had just
gotten back from the hospital and they were playing games, and I really wanted
to play because we had a good opportunity to win the District 9 title."